Citation

Rondier JP. Ann. Med. Psychol. (Paris) 2009; 167(4): 303-307.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Societe Medico-Psychologique, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.amp.2009.02.007

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Mishima's suicide, realised according to the seppuku traditional rite, questions us. When Mishima committed suicide, he was a successful writer and seemed to enjoy great vitality. Biographic evidence and Mishima's autobiographical writings show how he was fascinated by death and, more particularly, show how it was impossible for him to approach any feeling of existence. He thought language was the guilty party, which was devouring reality before he could experience it. He tried to obviate this lack by different ways. Body building and engagement in patriotic action were partial and incomplete attempts to exist. Patriotic songs with their stereotyped and chanted phrases of the kamikaze pacified his relation with language and somewhat calmed this existential grief. These means did not distract him, and even helped him, in his goal of ultimately verifying existence at the moment he killed himself. The author questions the following paradox: which function did those warrior songs, those trite phrases, those old tunes have for Mishima the sophisticated writer who tried to get rid of his author status by repudiating the pen through death. © 2009.

Language: fr

Keywords

literature; human; language; suicide; Suicide; Psychosis; psychosis; Language; death; article; life event; grief; public figure; writing; Mishima; body building; Old tune